Q&A: Green film director talks about palm oil and orangutans

Patrick Rouxel with his award at the Wildscreen Festival. Image via www.wildscreenfestival.org

In 2009, self-financed filmmaker Patrick Rouxel made a simple yet strikingly poignant film about a dying orangutan named Green. By October 2010, the film had walked away with top honours at the world’s most prestigious wildlife film festival. And it’s easy to see why. The thoughtful, beautifully shot film makes chillingly clear our role in the rapid destruction of Indonesia’s rainforests – and it does so without frills or embellishments, without so much as a spoken word (to see Earth-Touch’s review, click here). Beth Neale caught up with the filmmaker this week to ask about his journey so far and his plans for the road ahead.

BN: How did you first become interested in the plight of orangutans and the environmental situation in Indonesia and what inspired you to make Green?
PR: I lived in Malaysia and Singapore from about the age of 5 until I turned 18, so I became familiar with orangutans from an early age, but I only got actively involved in conservation through filmmaking at the age of 35. For the last 10 years, I have been making films to help raise awareness about deforestation and loss of biodiversity. The film Green was inspired by an encounter with a female orangutan, lying on a bed, half paralyzed, in a refuge in central Kalimantan. I was startled at the sight of this orangutan; I tried to imagine what was going on in her mind and made the film accordingly.

BN: What do you believe the future holds for the orangutans in Indonesia?
PR: The future holds a lot of suffering for the orangutans. Those that are in the non-protected forests will undergo constant stress, fleeing the chainsaws and bulldozers. If they survive the deforestation, the fires and contact with humans, they are in for long years of captivity and solitude. Those in the national parks will also see their habitat encroached on all sides, logged illegally and sometimes burnt down by uncontrolled manmade fires. No orangutan is well off today.

BN: In the face of this really depressing reality, how do you maintain hope and sustain meaningful action when your cause seems so hopeless?
PR: As long as there’s a bit of forest left standing and there are free, wild orangutans, there is reason to continue the battle and reason to hope. Maybe one day we’ll change, or maybe nature will come up with a way of ridding itself of us. If that day comes and there are still a few orangutans alive in what is left of the forest, then I’m sure they and their habitat will have a second chance. There is always hope, even the wildest hope.

BN: Your film has the potential to inspire a lot of people to make meaningful changes to their lifestyles and behaviour. What are some of the changes you hope it will bring about?
PR: More and more people are refusing to buy palm oil. I hope that this boycott will grow and become so strong that it topples the industry. I hope that public pressure will push the European, Indian and Chinese governments to stop promoting bio-diesel made from palm oil. I hope that very soon, palm oil will become a bad word just like fur. Neste Oil, which is pointed at in the film, has just been elected Worst Company of the Year for its investments in bio-diesel. I am so happy about that and hope that public pressure will push Neste Oil to pull back.

BN: Why do you think it’s taken such a long time for Green to be broadcast on television and why are broadcasters finally willing to show the film to their audiences?
PR: The broadcasters are still very hesitant about showing Green. Not a single TV station in the US, Australia or the UK is prepared to take that “risk”. Only a few European channels and Japan have been willing. I believe that’s because Green has won many awards and because someone working for the TV channel loved the film. I wish Finland, the home of Neste Oil, would broadcast it.

BN: In the Q&A following the screening of Green I attended, it was suggested that you should use a celebrity to help endorse your film. How do you feel about the fact that it takes “star” to get people’s attention? Have you considered doing this and who would you want to approach?
PR: I don’t really know what to think about this. It’s sad that it takes a celebrity to influence people’s choices and behaviour, but if that person was genuinely implicated in the fight for forest protection, then why not have him (or her) endorse Green? I don’t know who would be best to approach (it would be great if a celebrity approached me to offer help).

BN: Have any of the companies that you implicated in Green reacted to your portrayal of their destructive and unsustainable practices?
PR: Only a handful of companies have written me to request that I remove their name from the credits. Bodyshop was one of them because their palm oil comes from Colombia (not Indonesia), but since Bodyshop belongs to L’Oreal (a big importer of Indonesian palm oil), I feel they still deserve to be in the credits.

BN: What projects are you working on at the moment?
PR: I’ve just finished a film called ALMA about the Amazon, which will soon be available for free download from www.almathefilm.com. I’m now going back to Indonesia to make another film. I was there in November 2010 and met an orangutan I am particularly fond of. His name is Jimo and he will probably be the central character of my next film, but I don’t know what that story will be yet.

BN: I recently had a conversation with someone who is worried about the film’s emotional impact. She believes watching Green would be too upsetting. What would you say to this person to encourage her to reconsider?
PR: I appreciate that someone does not want to see unbearably upsetting images like those from the fur trade in China, from slaughterhouses or animals in labs. I myself have nightmares when I see such cruelty, but Green has nothing of that. If the film is upsetting it is because of the empathy and compassion we are capable of feeling for the central character named Green. This compassion is a positive feeling that can trigger positive changes within us. Many people have written to thank me because Green actually changed their life. Please see the film and do screen it wherever you feel appropriate. It’s available for free download and is copyright free for all screenings.